In Sean Gallagher’s article “Many new top-level domains have become Internet’s ‘bad neighborhoods’,” the author discusses the dangers of Internet scam artists and fake domain names on the Internet. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) chose to permit a number of top-level domains on the Internet, extending their purview beyond designations for countries and the generic options of .com and .net. As a result, however, security leaders warn that criminals are able to establish websites that look like reputable websites, but are in fact traps with which they could steal user information or rip them off. According to the article, this exact scenario has been happening, as entire name registration groupings have become almost exclusively sites for spam emails and malware. These new TLDs are ranked and evaluated based on their perceived shadiness, with the domains .zip and .review consisting of 100% fake and scam-based websites.
This article in particular deals with the issue of top-level domains as explained in our section of the textbook. As the book explains, top-level domains are either designated for countries (.ch, .uk and so on) or generic TLDs that specify the kind of domain it is (.com, .net, .org, etc.) Even in the textbook, it mentions ICANN’s recent decision to open up gTLDs to any organization that wants to create their own. This ties in well with the article, as it shows the unfortunate consequences of this kind of indiscriminate distribution of TLDs – if anyone can access this kind of domain-level power, they can use it to perform disreputable actions against Internet users of all stripes. The textbook also describes the difference between top-level and second-level domains (which are the particular organizations whose webpages it is – google.com, Microsoft.com, etc.), which is key to learning how people are tricked by fake TLDs. If a user goes to Amazon.zip instead of Amazon.com, for instance, it may be possible for a scammer who purchased the .zip TLD for Amazon and used it to create a site that looks like Amazon to the untrained eye, but will nonetheless install malware or scam you out of your money. Keeping the same second-level domain as a reputable website, but with a scammy TLD, is one easy way in which Internet users can fall victim to Internet predators and identity thieves.
Overall, this article is extremely informative in terms of the particular subject it is describing. It explains TLDs in adequate depth, and in colloquial language that is easy to understand. Citing Blue Coat statistics allows the article to have a measure of credibility, and quotes from their spokesperson lend further credence to the dangers of fake scam TLDs. Furthermore, the article’s listing of the ten worst TLDs for malicious domains is very important, as it provides practical information for readers to use so they might avoid those disreputable websites. What’s more, it also allows for some even-handedness when it describes the good TLDs that have been created (.church and .jobs, for example). This is important information that highlights the problems with TLDs, while also assuring users that not all TLDs are bad. Deep packet inspection is also helpfully advised for users hoping to avoid scammy TLDs.
Works Cited
Gallagher, Sean. “Many new top-level domains have become Internet’s ‘bad neighborhoods’.”
Ars Technica, Sept. 3, 2015.
